Gardaí should investigate the actions of Minister for Finance Michael Noonan during his time as minister for health, a former Fine Gael councillor has said.
Garrett O’Halloran, a former member of the South Eastern Health Board (SEHB), has written to the Garda Commissioner calling on her to investigate Mr Noonan’s actions in relation to the case of a young woman with intellectual disabilities who was left in a “foster” home for 13 years despite serious allegations of sexual abuse at the home.
The young woman, referred to as Grace, was placed in the home in 1989. All new placements stopped in 1995 amid concerns about alleged abuse.
The SEHB decided to remove Grace, but the foster family appealed to the health board as was their right under the 1995 foster care regulations.
A panel considered the appeal but upheld the decision to remove Grace.
However, a three-person panel was subsequently convened by the SEHB at which it was decided Grace would remain at the home. She stayed there until 2009.
Correspondence published by the Irish Examiner indicates the foster father wrote to Mr Noonan in August 1996 about the decision to remove Grace. "This we do not accept and hence our appeal to yourself," he said.
The Department of Health said: “Representations made to the minister in 1996 were passed to the organisation with statutory responsibility at that time, i.e. the South Eastern Health Board, requesting material to enable the minister to respond.”
A spokesman said Mr Noonan would co-operate with any inquiry.
